Anne of Brittany: Life Story

Published9th January 2018

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Chapter
7
: Sovereign Power

The terms of
Anne’s marriage treaty required that Anne now be acknowledged as sovereign
duchess, and French troops withdrawn. Louis adhered to the treaty (although
some of his men were reluctant to withdraw until Anne complained), but he
already had a new plan up his sleeve. By that same treaty, if Anne and Charles
had no son, Anne was obliged to marry Charles’ heir or the heir’s own heir. On
the face of it, this appeared to be impossible – Louis had been married to
Jeanne of France for twenty-two years, although they had not children. His heir
was François of Angoulême, a child of four.

Louis, however, hated his wife, and within weeks, he had suggested to
Anne the annulment of his marriage to Jeanne, so he could wed Anne. Again, it
is impossible to know what Anne’s thoughts were. We only know that she agreed
to marry Louis, if he could obtain an annulment within a year. Perhaps she
loved him, as many early French histories suggest, although they quote no
evidence, perhaps she thought that the annulment would never be granted, but
that appearing amenable would be the best way to protect her duchy, perhaps she
wanted to remain as queen of France.

There was also a lack of other suitable husbands – Maximilian had
married Bona of Savoy, Juan of Spain, having married Marguerite of Austria, was
now dead, and to marry one of her own nobles after being queen of France would
mean a loss of status.

Louis made his application to the Pope for an annulment, which he
requested on the shameful ground that Jeanne was so deformed he had been unable
to consummate the marriage, rather than the usual polite fiction of a discovery
of consanguinity.

Whilst Louis was insulting the long-suffering Jeanne, Anne was on her
way back to Brittany. On 13th August 1498, she had summoned an
escort of one hundred archers. En route, she stopped at the Chateau of Etampes,
where she again met Louis, before passing on to Chartres. Orders went out for
clergy, barons and citizens to attend her at the duchy’s capital of Rennes to
form an Estates-General.

She made a further stop at Laval, where she stayed with Jeanne, the
widow of René of Anjou, titular king of Sicily, and the step-daughter of Anne’s
old governess. Jeanne had been one of the first people Anne had written to
following Charles’ death, so we may infer that the two women were close,
despite Jeanne being over thirty years the elder.

In October, Anne made a state entrance to Nantes, preceded by her
banners of white with ermine tails. She went to the cathedral, where the Bishop
made a long address.

Around this time, Anne commissioned a history of Brittany from her
treasurer, Pierre Lebaud. She also instituted a permanent guard, which was to
accompany her everywhere, perhaps in imitation of the Garde Ecossais which
surrounded the French kings.

The other action Anne took as a sovereign was the founding of a new
order, for ladies, similar to the Orders of the Garter (England), the Golden
Fleece (Burgundy) and Saint Michael (France). The order, known as the Order of
the Ladies of the Cord had for its symbol a knotted rope, or ‘cordelier’. Its
motto was ‘J’ay le corps delié’ (I have an unbound body). There has been much
speculation about what the rope and the motto represented – the scourge from
the Passion of Christ, the belt of the Franciscan order – or delivery from the
bonds of matrimony.

The most likely explanation is that which links it to the Observant
Franciscans, known in France as the Cordeliers, an order much favoured by Duke
Francis I of Brittany. The Franciscans wore a knotted rope belt – signifying
their vows. Many of the objets d’art and books associated with Anne have this
symbol on them.

Whilst Anne was busying herself with rule in her duchy, Louis was
receiving an ecclesiastical declaration at Chinon, delivered by Pope Alexander
VI’s illegitimate son, Cesare Borgia – the
welcome record of the annulment of Louis’ marriage to Jeanne of France.
Borgia was rewarded with the duchy of Valentinois, and a pension of 20,000
crowns. It is not to be supposed that the promise of these rewards had in any
way influenced the Pope’s decision. Jeanne was compensated with the duchy of
Berri, and a pension.

Louis was now free, and Anne was obliged, willingly or not, to marry
him. Nevertheless, she was in a much stronger position to negotiate than had
been the case when the marriage to Charles was agreed, and the new treaty
agreed that, if the couple had no children, the duchy would revert to Anne’s
heirs, whilst, if they had children, the duchy would be conferred on the second
son or a daughter, either of which would have separated it from France.

Although Louis would, in the way of the times, exercise power in the
duchy, it was to be in Anne’s name, whilst she herself was to receive its
revenues, along with her dower from Charles, and the new jointure to be settled
on her by Louis. In token of his acceptance that Brittany was a sovereign
state, separate from France, Louis confirmed all the privileges of Brittany’s
church and courts.